All,
If you've seen me around campus or elsewhere in the recent past, you may have noticed that I have a wealth of shoes. If you don't know me personally, I'll briefly describe a few of my favorite pairs for your benefit. I have a pair of (RED) converse hightops with white words with "(red)" crosshatching them, I have some awesome brick red and yellow chacos (with the toe-strap, no less), and two pairs of "custom" Air Force I's. One of those pairs of Air Force I's is glossy with a Superman-themed color scheme:
and the other pair is a black/red Obama design:
So, what does this have to do with anything (obviously you're pretty jealous right now)? Good question. I wore my Obama Air Force I's today, and it got me thinking (DANGER Will Robinson! DANGER!). It got me thinking about two things in particular: the idea of Obama vs. the actuality of Obama and his campaign slogan: "Change you can believe in."
I'll start with the idea of Obama versus the actuality of Obama. Like a lot of my college peers, this past presidential election was my first opportunity to actually be involved in the election of our Commander-in-Chief. What an exciting prospect that is! I'd sat through enough news commentary in my previous 19 years to get me excited about actually having a voice (however soft it is) in the future direction of the nation. I'll say it up front, I didn't vote for Obama in the 2008 election (I "threw away" my vote on Bob Barr), for various reasons. One, I was under the false impression that I was libertarian at the time (even though I'm registered "unafiliated") and have since done enough soul-searching to figure out that I'm closer to the liberal end of the spectrum on most issues. And two, I was more or less bitter that people were voting for or against Obama merely based on his race, and didn't want to associate with this demographic. I know that my second reason means I shouldn't have voted at all to keep from voting either for or against Obama, but there's no way I could feel as entitled to bitch and moan after the election if I didn't participate (I wish more people fell into this category, maybe poll turnout would be higher).
Having gotten that off my chest, I'd like to say that I was genuinely happy when Obama was elected president. It was exciting to see our first African-American president take the podium at his inauguration, especially one so young, vibrant, eloquent, and that had such an air of progressivism about him. Now that excitement is really wearing off. That's where his campaign slogan: "Change you can believe in," comes into play. Sure, I can believe in that change, but I haven't really seen it or the steps necessary to facilitate that change. The idea of Obama (which his campaign did a great job shaping and promoting) was of a young, progressive, go-getter that was going to right the ship. The actuality is that Obama (in my opinion) is so hell-bent on trying to make bipartisan politics work (read: please everyone) that it has impeded progress. He's made many promises about human rights and has yet to deliver (
see here). All of this is not to say everything is Obama's fault and he's a terrible president. All I really mean is that I personally was
so enamored with the idea of "Change you can believe in," that the letdown hurts a bit more.
A great example of how "Change you can believe in," has failed in education is the Race to the Top initiative. It is Obama's way of "reforming" No Child Left Behind, where special federal funding is being redistributed to help schools that are falling behind, based on the standards set by No Child Left Behind as well as "Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy." (From the Race to the Top Fund official website) Sounds good, right? The schools that need the most funding will be getting it, and I like the idea of preparing students for college and the workplace, but there's a problem. Obama has also spent time extolling "21st Century education" as the next step in public education. "21st Century education" is a buzz phrase thrown around to denote student's competency using technology and Web 2.0. You can't have it both ways, Mr. President. If we want to truly stress "21st Century education" in the classroom, we must move away from paper and pencil standardized tests that pervade schools due to No Child Left Behind and take a more progressive approach. Progressive education, I would argue, is about very personalized lesson plans (more or less being phased out by pre-written lesson plans conforming to "experts'" interpretation of the standard course of study), and objective, formative assessments based on those lesson plans and students' needs. Why not set aside some of the Race To The Top fund for states that create progressive curricula and their own way of assessing these curricula? So, Mr. President are you going to push cookie cutter lesson plans to compete with other countries on standardized tests, or are you actually going to make good on your push for "21st Century education" and reform?
Maybe that "Change [I] can believe in," is yet to come. At least when I lay down tonight to go to sleep I can rest knowing that I wore some pretty kick-ass Nikes. Any "Change[s] you can believe in" that you have yet to see and are passionate about? Let me know. Get it off your chest. Feels good, man.
-Jason
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